People ask me all the time what playing in the NFL is really like and what the biggest misconceptions are that fans have about it and that is usually the second thing I say right after I let them know it is not nearly as glamorous as you think it is growing up.

When I was younger, I thought you just went to an awesome party every night and showed up for the games on Sunday as opposed to the reality of working extremely hard every day in constant pain and stress while getting fired four times and bouncing around from team to team but I digress …

Back to the highly circumstantial nature of NFL careers. Before I get to a player who will be in Sunday’s Super Bowl, I’ll use myself as an example. I played in the NFL for seven seasons, started 24 regular season games, and played in 45 total including one playoff game. I was your prototypical “journeyman,” playing for five teams as I got...